Rubber and clear plastic plumbing

[Dennis L. Kanakis]

I Did an inspection the other day and for the first time I saw some clear plastic plumbing leaving the hot water heater. Also used as supply lines throughout the new construction was rubber plumbing like I've recently seen in new constructions for baseboard heating supply lines.....but this is for the water supply lines. Is this recent allowable plumbing practice and what is the probability of failure / life expectancy?

Thanks to all in advance
Dennis

[Carmine Fuoco]

Please post pictures.

[Dennis L. Kanakis]

do to an unfortunate sequence of events on that day....there are no pictures. Looks like the same type of lines used with baseboard hot water systems in newer constructions...though in the basement from the hot water heater was a 1" or so hard clear plastic line carrying the potable water.

thanks again in advance

[Dennis L. Kanakis]

dennis kanakis
www.olympiancares.com

[relliott]

Did it look like this?



If so it is pex and should not be used above 180 degrees

[Dennis L. Kanakis]

yes that looks like the clear one from the hot water heater. and the ones throughout the home are i believe red and blue thick rubber.... is that allowed for residential drinking water in new constructions?

thx again
dennis
www.olympiancares.com

[Dennis L. Kanakis]

oh and again...whats the life expectancy and failure probability.

dennis
www.olympiancares.com

[Stephen W. Stanczyk]

If this is indeed PEX, the specs for it are:

Good to 200 degrees F at 80 psi
Good to 180 degrees F at 100 psi
Good to 73.4 degrees F at 160 psi.

I just replaced full galvanized pipe system in my son's home with PEX in one day. Luckily he has a full basement and everything was pretty accessible but the ease of installing this material made it a pleasure to work with.

Here is the website for a major manufacturer. http://www.uponor-usa.com/

What a difference in flow with new PEX instead of 3/4" galvanized pipe that maybe had room for a pencil in the middle.

Next weekend, new waste pipes. Not looking forward to that one.

[relliott]

Stephen you were just breaking those galvanized pipes in and you had to go and replace them.

[Stephen W. Stanczyk]

Originally Posted by relliott

Stephen you were just breaking those galvanized pipes in and you had to go and replace them.

Those were the 3/4" pipes. The 1/2" lines had water in them. Well, they were wet at least. It was pretty bad. I guess I am a slum lord.......

[Jeffrey R. Pope]

Originally Posted by relliott

Attachment 17776 Did it look like this?



If so it is pex and should not be used above 180 degrees

They should not be exposed to sunlight either. . .

[Dennis L. Kanakis]

Thanks for all the feedback guys. It is Pex.
I saw quite a few class actions about it on google. Just wondering if anyone has any warnings, maintenance advice or even bad expeciences with it.
After all, everything appears better when it is new.....but what will we be saying about it after 5-10 years.

Dennis Kanakis
olympian civil home and building inspections
brooklyn new york
www.olympiancares.com

[Blaine Wiley]

There are no class actions that I'm aware of for Pex tubing used in potable water systems. You may be confusing Pex with PB, of which there are numerous class actions.

We have been using Pex water pipes here for over ten years with no issues. It commonly comes in clear, blue and red, while the majority of PB is grey, and will be stamped PB2110.

[apolillo]

Here is a good resource for PEX

http://toolbase.org/ToolbaseResource...1&CategoryID=9

scroll down a bit.

Anatol